[ShellZee]

I have the following setup
Marantz 1504 AVR( with Philips Blu Ray Player, Apple TV, TATA Sky, Mac Air connected)
Boston A 26 Front
Boston Active SW
Boston wall mounted surrounds and centre.
The output is through a Hitachi HD projector and a Panasonic 40" LED HD TV.
The primary use is movies through the week and music( Loud, Very Loud) on the weekends when friends are over.
Now the issue :- The AVR tends to trip after music being played at 75%. + volume for a couple of hours and after the first time it trips every half hour or so. Never happens during movies. Now the setup is in an air conditioned room with a custom built cabinet with 3 upward firing fans specifically for the ventilation of the AVR placed directly above it. All the internet research points to overheating but the AVR is cool to touch throughout due to the ventilation. The problem is almost as old as the purchase, that's two years plus now. The centre channel is also giving no output for some time now. The problem is that I'm somewhere near Rishikesh presently and the am being asked to courier the AVR for repairs to MZ Audios, Mumbai, the authorised dealers, which I am reluctant for. Besides the fact that it is going to cost a bomb to courier it, I am skeptical of a courier company's capability to take proper care of my beloved AVR.
I would like somebody to direct me to a repair facility somewhere around where I am. I frequent Chandigarh and Delhi by car so both these places shall be extremely convenient.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by ShellZee

The AVR tends to trip after music being played at 75%. + volume for a couple of hours and after the first time it trips every half hour or so.

I can suggest some troubleshooting steps
1. Open the outer panel and run it in skeletal (guts visible) mode and see if the trips still happen
2. Try the unit outside the cabinet, (if your wiring permits)
3. Try it without the sub

[sourav9385]

HT Gurus,

How good is the Philips Fidelio? A colleague is looking to pick this up. Is it worth the asking price of 45K INR?

If this isn't that good, what would you recommend within 50K INR range? My colleague has bought a new house and wants to setup a simple, easy to setup HT. No 5.1 channel setups please. He's a big fan of Bose for some reason So any recommendations for Bose?

[navin_bhp]

Originally Posted by ShellZee

I have the following setup
Marantz 1504 AVR( with Philips Blu Ray Player, Apple TV, TATA Sky, Mac Air connected)
Boston A 26 Front
Boston Active SW
Boston wall mounted surrounds and centre.
The output is through a Hitachi HD projector and a Panasonic 40" LED HD TV.
The primary use is movies through the week and music( Loud, Very Loud) on the weekends when friends are over.
Now the issue :- The AVR tends to trip after music being played at 75%. + volume for a couple of hours and after the first time it trips every half hour or so. Never happens during movies. Now the setup is in an air conditioned room with a custom built cabinet with 3 upward firing fans specifically for the ventilation of the AVR placed directly above it. All the internet research points to overheating but the AVR is cool to touch throughout due to the ventilation. The problem is almost as old as the purchase, that's two years plus now. The centre channel is also giving no output for some time now. The problem is that I'm somewhere near Rishikesh presently and the am being asked to courier the AVR for repairs to MZ Audios, Mumbai, the authorised dealers, which I am reluctant for. Besides the fact that it is going to cost a bomb to courier it, I am skeptical of a courier company's capability to take proper care of my beloved AVR.
I would like somebody to direct me to a repair facility somewhere around where I am. I frequent Chandigarh and Delhi by car so both these places shall be extremely convenient.

It may also be one of the speakers. Try removing one at a time from the setup and see if the receiver trips. I had a 3 way center channel with a faulty crossover that was causing the receiver to trip.

[ShellZee]

Originally Posted by navin_bhp

It may also be one of the speakers. Try removing one at a time from the setup and see if the receiver trips. I had a 3 way center channel with a faulty crossover that was causing the receiver to trip.

This I will get on right away. And maybe that's why the centre channel has gone kaput.

Originally Posted by diyguy

I can suggest some troubleshooting steps
1. Open the outer panel and run it in skeletal (guts visible) mode and see if the trips still happen
2. Try the unit outside the cabinet, (if your wiring permits)
3. Try it without the sub

Initial few months of purchase I was on the move frequently so the AVR was on a barebones table and that is when the problem was discovered. Without the sub, yes, I will give that a try and get back to you.

[sourav9385]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

HT Gurus,

How good is the Philips Fidelio? A colleague is looking to pick this up. Is it worth the asking price of 45K INR?

If this isn't that good, what would you recommend within 50K INR range? My colleague has bought a new house and wants to setup a simple, easy to setup HT. No 5.1 channel setups please. He's a big fan of Bose for some reason So any recommendations for Bose?

Guru's,

Any feedback? What sort of a setup would you recommend for about 600-700 GBP? Primary requirement are clarity, excellent thumping clear bass and sound stage, in that order.

My colleague isn't an audiophile. So please don't go suggesting cables worth 10 million quid & an AVR that can decode 2000 channel sound. Oh, and he hates cables. The usage will be mostly watching HD movies over an HTPC or HD content from an STB. Music might be played occasionally over Bluetooth.

Room size is about 28 * 12. But the setup will be used in the area highlighted in red.


How are the Philips Fidelio B5s? Folks who own these, or have auditioned them, please share your experience. I see some HTiB setup from Yamaha in that price bracket. Worth it? My gut says you can't get even a half decent 5.1 setup in that piddly a price bracket. So I haven't even suggested the same to him.

Please help a brother out, folks. Any response will be really helpful & appreciated. Thanks! Cheers!

[vdi]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

How are the Philips Fidelio B5s?

Check for a feedback on the above a few pages back. Someone bought or auditioned one recently.

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by ShellZee

....after music being played at 75%. + volume

I have never exceeded the 10'O clock position on my Marantz PM5005 amplifier. It simply becomes too loud beyond that. How do you manage to get far on the volume?

(I know I am comparing an AVR with an Amp, but still?)

Originally Posted by sourav9385

HT Gurus,

How good is the Philips Fidelio? A colleague is looking to pick this up. Is it worth the asking price of 45K INR?

If this isn't that good, what would you recommend within 50K INR range? My colleague has bought a new house and wants to setup a simple, easy to setup HT. No 5.1 channel setups please. He's a big fan of Bose for some reason So any recommendations for Bose?

I had auditioned it at home. It is a decent system - the surround setup was not good. If it is for movies/ soaps, it is fine. Quite loud.
I stayed away from Bose, because I always thought I was poor.
For a smooth and silky music listening experience, the B5 is not going to match up with an amplifier + passive speaker setup with a little bit more money.

[sourav9385]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

...I had auditioned it at home. It is a decent system - the surround setup was not good. If it is for movies/ soaps, it is fine. Quite loud.
I stayed away from Bose, because I always thought I was poor.
For a smooth and silky music listening experience, the B5 is not going to match up with an amplifier + passive speaker setup with a little bit more money...

Originally Posted by vdi

Check for a feedback on the above a few pages back. Someone bought or auditioned one recently.

Whelp, we didn't get a chance to audition the Fidelio B5. Last weekend, we ran into an excellent store where we auditioned a lot of custom setups. We listened to everything, Peachtree, Marantz, Denon, Cambridge Audio etc. Finally, we fell in love with a pair of Tannoy Eclipse 3 flood standers, wired to a Denon X1300W, with an ELAC S10 Debut Series sub. And my god did the setup sound good! So he got the whole shebang.

It did cost twice more than his original budget and it comes with a lot of cabling, but the clarity, thump and sound stage is bloody brilliant. Will post pics of the setup once the wiring and all is complete.

On another note, we sampled the Bose sound touch 300 soundbar and the acoustimass 300 sub module, just because he wanted to. And boy did it suck! It was loud, but that was it. There was no definition, no clarity, and absolutely no precision whatsoever. Weird to think a name like Bose would sound so crappy! We heard the Bose before we went to the custom store. But even then, it just did not sound good at all.

So what do the gurus think? Worthy of the ~1K GBP we spent?

[Rohit_Quad]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

HT Gurus,

How good is the Philips Fidelio? A colleague is looking to pick this up. Is it worth the asking price of 45K INR?

If this isn't that good, what would you recommend within 50K INR range? My colleague has bought a new house and wants to setup a simple, easy to setup HT. No 5.1 channel setups please. He's a big fan of Bose for some reason So any recommendations for Bose?

I did get a chance for a demo of the Phillips in one of the Croma's in Hyderabad, but didn't seem so impressive. Not sure if both of us are talking about the same model. Then our attention was drawn to a Sony. Was impressive.
I would suggest this for a no nonsense setup -
http://www.sony.co.in/electronics/al...ems/bdv-n7200w

It has everything, i mean everything you might need - Blur-Ray, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, 4K upscaler, Various Inputs, USB HDD support, Various Dolby and DTS formats support. Also has wireless rear speakers.

EDIT - Just saw that you have finalized an another product

[ShellZee]

Haha. Well when you've been hearing it at that volume for a long long time, I guess even 75% volume isn't loud enough. But surprisingly I have an old Sony DAV DZ570 hooked up with a 50 LED in my bedroom and that seems louder. Coarser but definitely louder.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

Finally, we fell in love with a pair of Tannoy Eclipse 3 flood standers, wired to a Denon X1300W, with an ELAC S10 Debut Series sub. And my god did the setup sound good! So he got the whole shebang.

It did cost twice more than his original budget and it comes with a lot of cabling, but the clarity, thump and sound stage is bloody brilliant. Will post pics of the setup once the wiring and all is complete.

Excellent!

Like i said, i picked up the B5 because of the awesome deal i got thanks to a contact. At 27k i couldn't be more happier. Living in a flat with two kids i cannot keep tower speakers and this was perfect for me. Soundbar most of the time and when the need arises, surround sound!

DTS and Dolby never sounded so good.

But that said, i know it won't compare to a proper HT setup but i'm happy

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

HT Gurus,How good is the Philips Fidelio?

I had the opportunity to audition this Philips at last years What Hi Fi show in Bangalore and was very impressed by the sound. Lets get one thing straight though. This is not to be compared to a stand alone HT system. If you want to compare it, do so with equivalent type of system from JBL, Bose, etc. Don't expect room shaking bass either. The bass is adequate though.

Do note that this system does not support any of the latest HD audio formats and is a 4 channel system. Software support is only DTS and Dolby Digtal 5.1. The system basically down mixes content so that you can hear everything and it does it quite well.

I heard it in a hotel room which comes close to the environment of a living room and the sound was impressive for the size of the equipment. Wireless rear speakers are a bonus too.

If you are someone who does not want to deal with the clutter of a full blown HT, you can close your eyes and buy the Philips. It is expensive but so is every compact sound bar out there that tries its best to mimic a full blown HT setup.

[sourav9385]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I had the opportunity to audition this Philips at last years What Hi Fi show in Bangalore and was very impressed by the sound. Lets get one thing straight though...

Well, thanks for that suggestion. Considering how weird most sound bars sound when compared to a proper amp + passive speakers + dedicated subwoofer setup, it's safe to say a soundbar setup will never feature in our wishlist, ever again.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Excellent!

But that said, i know it won't compare to a proper HT setup but i'm happy

Right you are! A proper HT setup sounds really amazing! We couldn't go back to yet another soundbar setup after listening to a full blown HT setup. So we rejected the idea outright. But thanks for your inputs.

Originally Posted by Rohit_Quad

EDIT - Just saw that you have finalized an another product

Yep! And we're very happy with that. We just watched a whole lotta movies over the weekend on Netflix and from the HTPC, and we have no concerns whatsoever! The sound is so rich and detailed!

[sj_koova]

In a span of six months I have gathered most of the HT equipment I needed.
Here goes my equipment list.

Projector - Sony VPL-HW40ES
AV Receiver - Yamaha RX-A2000
Front Speakers - Klipsch RP-260F
Center - Klipsch RP-250c
Rear - Panasonic floor stander (200w from from old HT)
Front Height - Boston acoustics a25 (for Atmos)
Sub - SVS PB-1000

I have anther sub in rear that I have done like hack. It is a Diamond Audio D6 12D4 accompanied with a Kenwood Amp powered by a computer SMPS. Together the SVS and the Dimond, can shake my entire house.

My HT room on 2nd floor of my house. It is 10X16X8.5. I am on a DYI project and making progress as I wish.

I have done recliners, floor carpet and sound damping materials already.

From a sound quality perspective, I have done what is needed. Pending is mostly beautification.

I recently watched bahubali-2 in PVR and our entire family felt the movie experience at home is superior. Except for IMAX, I do not feel the need to go to movies anymore.

Totally satisfied will what I have built so far. It is hard to get your wife's appreciation, but for this one, she has all the grin on her face.